The U.S. Green Building Council is scheduled to release a new version of its LEED rating system program this coming November.  The new standard will address several areas of concern regarding the LEED rating system by making it more comprehensive while also making it more efficient and an easier tool for end users. 

Clearly, LEED is at a cross roads and while it is the main driver for the increase of green building design and construction over the alst 10 years, it does face some challenges.  Melanie D.G. Kaplan has written a great essay on this concept for smartplanet.com that I thought I’d share it with you. Read more »

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Last week, I posted a news item about a major green builder from Milwaukee, WI considering moving its corporate headquarters to Greenwich, CT.  Well, now comes word its a done deal.

Stephen Dent Construction, a public company and a major player in green building construction, has announced that its corporate headquarters will in fact be moving from Milwaukee, WI to Greenwich, CT. In a company press release, this announcement was alluded to in a social networking posting on the company’s LinkedIn account late last week.

In the LinkedIn post,  Stephen Dent, president of the company stated, “This company was founded in Wisconsin, and it pains us all to leave, but we feel that the company needs to move to Connecticut to take advantage of the state’s progressive tax and building coding laws. Are we sad? Yes. Is this the best thing for our company and our employees? Absolutely.”

Stephen Dent will be moving all employees who wish to stay with the company, paying 100% of relocation costs for their employees. The company has fared very well in recent years, but even so, the costs for relocation seem high. It is apparent that the company feels they will be able to better move forward with their green ideals in Connecticut, no matter what the financial cost.

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Our friends at the Connecticut Green Building Council are hosting a program in early February that will help architects, engineers, construction project managers and other design-build professionals.  The program is designed to help professionals from these fields who are familiar with the basic concepts of the LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations Rating System, but lack in knowledge when it comes to implementing it on projects or looking to brush up on implementation best practices. It is appropriate for new LEED APs, as well as those pursuing GBCI’s LEED AP Building Design + Construction credential. Read more »

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Last week, the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA) announced that on December 14th, 2011 The  Authority released a request for public comments on its proposed incentive structure for the revised Residential PV Investment Program. As required by Section 106 in Public Act 11-80, CEFIA is to design and implement a Residential Program that results in a minimum of thirty (30) megawatts of new PV installations on or before December 31, 2022. Read more »

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Once again, here’s my take on the green business, green building and green energy highlights of 2011 in Connecticut.   This is the sixth year-in-review of the state’s green economy for this blogger and there was some cool stuff to report, no doubt.  But overall, based on the frequency of news items and their uniqueness, like last year, the choices I had were fewer than during the years of 2006-2009, when Connecticut was considered the model template for a green  state.  Read more »

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If you’re like me, you like history. I have always been fascinated with history and the way that certain events can trigger revolutionary change. Change comes in many shapes and sizes, and change is usually reserved for political, social and economic platforms. I recently got to look at the history of energy subsidies in the United States and found this history touches on all three platforms.

So what drew my attention to the history of energy subsidies in the U.S.?  I received a notice last week from the Yale Center for Business and the Environment that the Center (CBEY) and CBEY will be hosting a live Web-based discussion this coming Thursday afternoon from 12 noon to 1 p.m. Subsidies for Renewable Energy: American as Apple Pie? will feature Nancy Pfund, Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Investors and Benjamin Healey, CBEY Research Fellow. Read more »

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